The actor told the crowd, 'We have to change the language.'
Jamie Foxx is encouraging others to take action and demand justice in order to enact real change. Following the fatal arrest of George Floyd, which has sparked outrage and protests across the nation, the 52-year-old actor joined thousands of peaceful protestors outside San Francisco's City Hall on Monday to honor the Minneapolis man, and countless other black lives that have been lost due to police brutality.
Foxx at one point serenaded the crowd with a hymn, before taking a knee, and giving a speech about why there must be productivity.
"You can't sit back, you can't tweet, you can't text, you gotta get out here," he advised. "We have to make sure change can come when it comes to police brutality. There has to be a deterrent. If that man can be handcuffed, if that man [Derek Chauvin] can sit on that man's [Floyd's] neck for that long and feel comfortable about it, that means that he's not afraid of what's going to happen."
"We have to change the language," he continued. "They have to be worried that, 'I could go to jail for this,' they have to respect us. They have to love us."
Foxx then called on his celebrity friends, telling the crowd, "What I want to say to my Hollywood friends is, you got to get out here. You can't tweet. You can't text…You have to understand, people are hurting."
Foxx's speech was followed up by a message from Mayor London Breed, who spoke about her own experiences with racism.
"You know, my heart has been heavy. Yes, I'm the mayor, but I'm a black woman first," she said, as the crowd erupted with applause. "In 2006, sadly my cousin was killed by the San Francisco police department. When his mom showed up wanting to know what happened, she was treated like a criminal."
"I am angry. I am hurt. I am frustrated," she added. "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I don't want to see one more black man die at the hands of law enforcement."
In addition to Foxx, a number of other celebrities have taken to the streets to protest, including Cole Sprouse, Tinashe, Halsey, Ariana Grande and Machine Gun Kelly, who were all spotted in Los Angeles the past few days.
Floyd's younger brother, Terrence, called for "positive change" while speaking about the ongoing nationwide protests to Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on Monday.
While the majority of the protests have been peaceful, many have been overshadowed by the groups of people who are looting and vandalizing their communities. Terrence said he hopes this won't take away from the real cause, which is the call for justice.
"Yes, I do feel like it's overshadowing what's going on because, like I said, he was about peace, he was about unity. The things that are transpiring now, they may call it unity, but it's destructive unity," he explained. "It's not what he was about. That's not what my brother was about."
"It's OK to be angry, but channel your anger to do something positive or make a change another way because we've been down this road already," he continued. "He would want us to seek justice the way we are, the way we're trying to do [it], but channel it another way. The anger, damaging your hometown, it's not the way he'd want."
Hear more in the video below.
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